Guest peekie Posted March 30, 2004 Report Posted March 30, 2004 Will spotted this hot news item on the BBC news site The French mobile phone giant Orange has ditched its chief executive Solomon Trujillo, just 15 months after he joined the firm. The surprise move is described by Orange as part of a "wide-ranging re-organisation". Orange's new boss will be Sanjiv Ahuja, currently the firm's chief operating officer. Orange has some 30,000 employees and more than 45 million subscribers in France, the UK and 18 other countries. Mr Trujillo's departure comes as a complete surprise, and Orange's official announcement of the news fails to give a clear reason for the change at the top. The vast majority of Orange shares is held by France Telecom, which adopted the name of its UK subsidiary as the global brand for its mobile phone operations. France Telecom is currently in the process of buying up the remaining shares of Orange's minority shareholders, a process the company now says it hopes to complete by the end of April. Tasked with integration Sanjiv Ahuja takes charge at Orange France Telecom chairman Thierry Breton praised Mr Trujillo, saying he had done "an outstanding job at Orange," turning the "federation of companies" into a "unified organisation". Mr Trujillo in turn was quoted as saying that he was proud of bringing together a team that had managed to give Orange "the structures and organisation it lacked". The top priority for Mr Ahuja will be the integration of France Telecom with its mobile subsidiary, a task Mr Trujillo had been brought in to oversee. Mr Ahuja's appointment also means that Europe's two largest mobile phone companies are now run by Indian-trained engineers. Last year, Arun Sarin became the chief executive of Orange's rival Vodafone. Mr Sarin graduated from the famous Indian Institute of Technology, while Mr Ahuja graduated from Delhi University. As part of the reorganisation, three top Orange executives will join the France Telecom board - Mr Ahuja, joined by the bosses of Orange's UK and French operations, John Allwood and Didier Quillot. Mr Trujillo came to Orange from American telecoms operator US West, where he had been chief executive. At the time of his appointment he was seen as a surprise choice. original source BBC NEWS
Guest drblow Posted March 30, 2004 Report Posted March 30, 2004 Wow! :shock: Maybe somebody at Orange IS listening to us?? :)
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